The British Council in partnership with the Marrakech Biennale and Ecole Superieure des Arts de Visuels (ESAV) have announced Design ? Explore, an exciting new project comprising a two week development residency and a design skills open-to-all day that aims to give young, aspiring Moroccan designers a chance to develop their skills, creative thinking and knowledge of contemporary product design.
Morocco’s rich craft heritage is renowned worldwide but education opportunities in contemporary design are not widely available, leaving aspiring designers little opportunity to learn about currents trends and skills in product design. The programme will create the potential for participants to make the transition from producing low value products; building a community of new, young designers with the capability to transfer these skills to the Moroccan craft sector. By positioning design within the context of craft – which often holds ideas of traditional and contemporary identity – it will enable a discussion of ideas of local and national self.
Demonstrating the British Council’s commitment to bring British and Moroccan expertise together to improve sustainable development in the creative industries, Design ? Explore will create an opportunity for recent graduates, as well as those with no formal training to diversify into design while simultaneously providing a return to the UK creative sector through valuable international experience and reciprocal knowledge of other cultural and design sectors.
Residency
From 24 March – 5 April ten participants will design and develop their own unique products with the support and guidance of expert designers and tutors from both the UK and Morocco. Practical design sessions will be complemented by an introduction to all related aspects of professional design; from costing, pricing and communications to markets, quality and presentation.
Design Special Open Day
A one-day event of workshops and practical demonstrations will open the programme up to greater numbers of students, enabling them to experiment and explore the practicalities of 3D design. The aim of the workshop is to inspire young people to pursue their creative endeavours in the field of design.
Participating designers and tutors also include: Roger Arquer, Thorsten Van Elten, Younes Duret (Morocco), Sanaë Alami Afilal, SA&AA Communications Group (Morocco) and Joseph Ouechen (Morocco).
Mentoring programme
Following the residency there will be two months for participants to work on refining their designs into sellable products, before an opportunity for mentoring from professional designers and academics, with a view to targeting their finished products to specific markets.
